miners, silv miners all praying for these miners and their families answer think a tremendous accomplishment tonight. >> i appreciate your time tonight, gentlemen. thanks so much. that is the ed show, i'm ed schultz. stay with msnbc for complete coverage of the miners' rescue, our breaking news continues with chris matthews on "hardball." that starts right now. stay with us. rescue. let's play "hardball." good evening, i'm chris matthews in washington. leading off tonight, rescue in chile. crews are ready to start their rescue operation that will free 33 miners trapped for more than two months.

chile's president arrived at the site and the first miners expected to be brought to the surface in about two hours. this is a big international story, of course and we will be covering it throughout the night on msn. but also a big political night as well. the democrats finally break out of what james carville, the ragin' cajun called the fetal position. they're fighting back against the republican onslaught. the battle for the women's vote. and big bill. bill clinton hits the road for the democrats. nine states to rally for his party. we begin with the chilean mine rescue. kerry sanders joins us with the latest. kerry, we are wondering about this keeps being pushed back a bit. what is going on right now. >> reporter: there is a little bit of a delay, they thought they might begin now and they are into a two-hour holding period where they are running some tests. they are actually gathered around the phoenix, which is that escape capsule and they have had a small sledge hammer

and taking a piece of rebar and banging that rebar down inside the capsule. they take a look, it looks like they are trying to get something loosened up before they reattach it to the cable that will then low ter down, so, there are always going to be some problems at the last minute. the engineers have said from the beginning that they know that this is going to take some time and expecting it. they say that when they hear the sirens, when the sirens wahle out here it will be a sign things are about to really begin. so we have not heard those sirens yet. we are looking at the pictures of the phoenix there you can see the men. the cable there was a special cable brought in from germany. it is used in ski lift -- for chair lifts at ski locations, ski mountains. and bottom line, chris, is the people down below are a lot more anxious than anybody up here. the family members want to see their loved ones, like to get them up here right now the guys down there, they know what is going on there is a telecommunication hookup down

there they are being informed. there are cameras down below which are bringing images back up to the engineers so they can monitor what is going on down there. there you can see the hole, sort of dead center what looks like the base of a multinumber of pipes that maybe could look like it was the -- an oil location and right in the dead center there is where they will hoist it up and then terror down t will be fed down by gravity it simply goes down, gravity takes it down, 2,040 feet n about two hours, see the rescues begin. they are going to run a test. they have to put it down there empty, bring it up, then a paramedic gets in, goes down and then the first man comes up, florencio avalos, 31 years old, a brother of two a brother down there with him, renan, who 2ed years ol and mining in this particular mine for four years. so, i think that it's obviously

a considerable honor for had him to be the first one to come up. they chose him because he is healthy. he is strong and they say he is smart. he know there is a problem, he can help them solve the problem while he is inside that 26-inch, very tight capsule coming up. chris? >> kerry, give me a serngs you have been with down there reporting for a while. give me a sense of the communication systems between -- here we are in realtime, talking about a rescue effort about to be guided and hopefully completed over the next day. the men down there in that mine right now what are they hearing from above the surface? are they -- do they like -- is it like a telephone system? what connects them with the surface? >> more advanced than that the technology at play is amazing. it is fiber on theic. they drilled five-inch holes in various locations down there and that is where they were second the food down that is where they were sending clothes down, soap, shaving cream and of course they dropped down a fiber on theic

line so that fiber on theic line goes down to the men, then they send down cameras, so they have the ability not only to talk but to point the cameras back and forth. and so it is a 24-hour open channel. right now, they are in communication with them and the family members have have had a chance to visit with their loved ones down there via that video conference on seats and sundays much they were each given about eight minutes to talk to their family members on the surface, so, it is about as advanced as you can get. and as we see here what looks like some -- yeah that is the very top there, that was the very top of the -- of the cable there that they were attaching back on to the phoenix. unfortunately, the distance from where i am and where the engineers are is just a little too far for them to explain exactly what's going on. however, we are getting regular updates from the minister of the

mines here, and he said, again, a two-hour delay and that is where we are right now, chris. >> is this state-of-the-art equipment and methodology is this something that we would be using in the united states if we have a mining disaster, something like this in the future? >> absolutely. it is designed with input of engineers around the world, including engineers from nasa who came down here. and as we see that red, white and blue, which are the colors of the chilean flag with the star there as we see it raised up, the engineering that is involved here, the checklists, they were rather proud to say that when they first put this together and then the engineers came down from nasa to advise them, they had already crossed off 95% of the things that the folks from nasa had suggested. so, this is something that we may see again. of course, the hope is that people will not be trapped in mines but we also note danger of mining and this has brought it

crystal clear to anybody in the world who doesn't think twice about the people who go down there. in this case, a copper and gold mine or other mines where they are extracting coal or something like that. >> okay. one last time -- >> it weighs about 1,000 pounds. >> so one last time, give us the run through of what to expect in the next couple of hours. they are putting that thing down. the first guy down will be a rescue worker, is that right? >> >> it will be a paramedic it will go into the hole, go empty first and bring it up, then it will go down with the paramedic and the paramedic will exit down there talk to the men and then the very first man will come up and that is florencio avalost will come up. it comes up, another paramedic will go down. the idea to get four or five paramedics and two of them are commanders with the military here to go down there and the reason they are doing that, like the commanders, is they want somebody with sort of a fresh

perspective, who has not been trapped down there, not on a very restrictive diet, somebody who has sort of an open mind, so if there is a problem, they may have a fresh perspective that can be worked with the miners, of course who have a lot of that expertise. >> wow, kerry sanderss, great reporting. thank you so much for giving us updates. we will be back again later in the program to get an update on this exciting development down there. it looks like a good night for mankind right now. thank you so much, kerry sanders down there in chile. down there of course, 69 days, down there underground. go right now to jeff gar deer, we had him on earlier tonight, early edition of hard ball. 's psychologist and boy, wait until you hear from this fella. thank you, jeffrey, for joining us. i'm so fascinated by the way this has developed, because so often, you hear the bad story this is a tough election season here in the state, a lot of nastiness, but here you have a real story how human beings can create their own civilization in a terrible situation and be positive toward each other, a real community.

>> that is what they have done under the guidance of the shift commander who went down there in that mine. he has helped them put together a structure, put together a smaller society. they have been there for one another. there has been a psychological stress, we have seen notes that come up, the miners complained about nightmares and wanting to get out of there, this guy, along with the rest of the miners, have been able to work together to be a support group for one another, to help them -- to help them through this most harrowing experience. >> you know, it sounds different, john mccain, senator john mccain talked about how they would stay alive, cultur culturally as a unit, stuck as prisoners of war in north vietnam and take turns describing a movie they remembered, some guys are better

at remembering movies than others and spend a whole night sort in pant toe mime and narrative giving each other a night at the movies. monday night at the he movies, tuesday night at the movies. sounds funny, gave themselves something to look forward to all the guys stuck in their black pajamas. much more dramatic example to be stuck underground this small group of people cut off from the rest of the world only in that way. >> it is such a unique experience for these miners there wasn't a lot of light down there the heat was absolutely terrible, these guys were developing skin rashes, so there are a lot of medical issues down there what they did chris, and what you are saying, they brought humanity into this very inhumane situation, they didn't have any psychological or physical control of. we have found out that they had singing down there they sang their national anthem. they had entertainment. they had a person who is in charge of spirituality and prayer, another person who is in charge of structure and making

sure that certain rules were followed. so they did put together a minisociety. as you have talked about, as senator mccain did with his troops, was be able to be there for one another, be that support that only they can understand what was going on and the people above ground they saw a lot of what was happening through the cameras couldn't understand as much as these mine verse understood. this is a singular experience that only they will be able to share with one another. this did he that down there and hopefully do that above ground. >> how do you explain this positive development of getting together rather than breaking apart. the great novel we all read, which was "lord of the flies" young kids separated from civilization and they break bad. how does this -- how does this happen this time? do you have any idea what the catalyst was for a positive community being developed? >> yes, i think -- >> 2,000 feet the below the surface, you know, separated

from their wives, from their kids, from everything in terms of normal -- like normal entertainment and diversion, like just getting up and having a cup of coffee in the morning with your spouse or going to bed at night with your spouse or the normal way you live, maybe going to a movie once in a while, they lost all that down there. >> absolutely. and i think reason this did not turn out the way of the "lord of the flies," two very specific things, one is that they did have leadership down there something we call in psychology called emerging leadership. that is something that happened where the strongest ones were able to fend for some of the weaker ones and the other thing that was going on was this was sort of like, believe it or not, reality tv in that the people above ground could see what was happening below, so there was an extra incentive for these miners to behave themselves and to be humane to one another because they knew that everything that they were doing was being watched. they were in a bubble, unlike the novel "the lord of the

flies" where those kids were by themselves and had to start their own saturday in a very negative and lawless way. >> tell me about the guy who was the entertainer in charge. how did that work out? do you have any idea how that develop and what was his method of entertaining on a nightly basis for 69 nights? >> i believe what happened was each person had their own personality trait, of course, and so the best of some of these people actually came out. so the person who was much more spiritual, well, just automatically emerged as that person who was able to say prayers and bring out spirituality in others. for the person who was the entertainer, my understanding was this was a person who liked to sing this was a person who loved entertainment, this was a person who had a sense of humor a real spirit arrange real artistic spirit and therefore, was able to fill that role, fill those shoes and did it in a very admirable manner, to the point of where he was able to inspire

the others to tap into that sense of humanity, artistic entertaining kind of quality that all of us have to some extent. >> let's talk about the culture of the miner. you know, i group up with it only in the movies, basically, "how green was my valley" and the guys, the old welsh coal miners underground, west virginia, pennsylvania, you have the tradition of guys going down there covered up with their faces covered with soot and having to take a shower and obviously that bonding that goes on, but the gut it is takes just to go down there every morning with your lunch bucket and your light on your helmet what is that about? is it a certain kind of person? is it inherited from father and son, the guts that it take tubes working guy a mile or so beneath the surface of the earth 40 hours week? >> absolutely, chris. first of all, these guys were making about $1,000 a month, which is considered to be big money in chile, but they had to do at the peril of their lives.

they knew when they went down there they were exposing themselves to possible illnesses, lung illnesses and so on. they knew about the darkness, even though some of these guys already had issues with claustrophobe ya they went down anyway because they needed to take care of family. one young man needed to take care of his pregnant girlfriend. so, these were guys, even if they had differences above the surface, above the surface, when it came down to going into those mines, they had to look out for one another and therefore, a solidarity developed and we see this happen all the time when you go into very dangerous situations. that's part of our great humanity. this is what these guys did and that's why they were very solidified emotionally. we can only hope that happens once they come above ground. >> well, jeff, you are one of the best guests we have ever had on the program. i can't think of batter night to have you for this particular topic. i want to ask you when we come back, my pregnant question, will these guys go back in that mine

when they come out? jeff gardere, telling us about the psychology of working 2,000 feet below the surface and being stuck down there with 32 other guys for 69 days below the surface. back with more on the mine rescue that's coming up tonight in just a moment you are watching it hear on "hardball." what a night, on msnbc. ♪ where'd you learn to do that so well. ♪ the new cadillac srx. the cadillac of crossovers. cadillac. the new standard of the world. and all my investments, but it's not something that i want to do completely on my own -- i like to discuss my ideas with someone. that's what i like about fidelity. they talked with me one on one, so we could come up with a plan that's right for me, and they worked with me to help me stay on track -- or sometimes, help me get on an even better one. woman: there you go, brian. thanks, guys.

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tempurpedic.co the rescue capsule is just about to be lowered into the rescue hole at that chilean mine. 33 miners trappeded underground now for 69 days, those are the facts, the drama is happening right now. nbc's kerry sanders is at the mine alongside nbc's natalie morales. natalie, give us an update on this thing it is getting dark down there it is about the same time as eastern time, right in santiago? >> reporter: it is about -- we are an hour behind -- an hour actually ahead here. so this operation, as kerry was reporting, was expected to take place -- expected to begin really about 20 minutes ago

here. there is somewhat of a delay, we are not sure why that is yet but they did say in a press conference earlier today that they are not going to let the rescue capsule go down at all yet until they make sure everything is just perfect. and they have been doing a lot of test runs all day today, all day yesterday. so, they aring are really really going to make sure everything is perfect before they put anyone at perhaps risk here. >> and i think it is worth noting it is getting cold here. we are in the desert, the daytime is very hot, at night, it gets very cold. i think we are probably in the upper 40s right now. >> yes. >> is getting chilly. here is the thing that is interesting. down where those men are you might think in your mine, inside a mine it is cold, here in the desert, down there, warm, 80% humidity, about 80 degrees down there, that's why when you have seen the images of the men down there with their shirts off, that is why it is that hot down there, the heat retains down

there the men are not feeling the chill we are feeling up here. >> they are certainly no you can imagine the excitement they are feeling as well to be reunited with their loved ones and the family members, for their part, very excited. we did see buses go in already, afather could be some of the family members. now, we are not sure. each of the miners is going to be allowed to to have three family members on the platform to greet them but there is going to be a full process before happened. they have to go through triage. all of their medical evaluations have to take police first before they are then allowed to see those three family members. >> the reason that they are doing that is not only for the healthy ones, some of those down there indeed do have long-term issues, heart conditions, diabetes, some of them have developed skin conditions, rashes that are quite uncomfortable of these first 17 days when really quite frankly they had no contact and it was just a hope and a belief perhaps from the family members that these men might still be alive. they didn't have the ability to brush their teeth, some of them

actually have some ongoing gum problems and i can't imagine anything being worse down there 69 days with a toothache. >> exactly. >> given them some drugs are. when they do come up, because they are going to be in that tight little capsule and they are concerned about things like deep vein thrombosis, each man before he come ups with keep an aspirin or two to keep the blood thin, put in a special custom-designed suit, much like a pilot on an f-16 would wear it is tight, keeps the blood in the legs tight so it remains up in the upper portion of the body, the socks are especially tight. >> an interesting to note as well as we were looking at some of the pictures beforehand, the design of the capsule almost looks very rocketship like, which certainly you can't say was not a factor they can took that very much into consideration here. and also painted in the red, white and blue, the colors of the chilean flag, so very patriotic moment. everyone here glued. in fact, they have installed a jumbotron down at the end of the campsite here, where so many people have made this area home.

and they are watching the coverage live as you are watching it. the world is watching this wanting to see that very first miner come out. we know a little something about the order already. >> yeah, with florencio avalos coming out, being number one it is because of his health. they say that he is strong, he is healthy, at 31 years old with an experience of four years in this mine and a career as a miner, they believe he has the expertise, if is there a problem, not just radio up and there is a problem but say perhaps this is the solution. so, i think it is really interesting, initially, saying the list was a see correct the men down below were fighting not to be number one, to be last, which i think says lot about their brotherhood. >> absolutely. they have shown really that solidarity throughout the entire 69 days. we know that the second one as well is most likely going to be mario accept pulled very dark an electrical specialist. again, they are asking the first

guys to come up, these are the ones who probably have the most experience when it comes to trouble shooting problems, but it is interesting, i spoke with his family today and they say that he really -- they have started calling him the reality tv announcer because that has been sort of his job. in fact, all those videos that we saw early to on that were narrated, they showed the miner in their 600-foot subterranean quarters, that was all shot and narrated, beautifully, by him. >> a reporter in the making down there. >> exactly. >> the thing that is also interesting is the area that you mentioned that they were in down there. you know agency, lot of people had the idea that they were holed up in a tiny little almost like cave-like situation. it is actually much larger, to the point that some of them have been exercising to -- running five miles a day. so they have been trying to do everything they can. they have been given required cal less thennics to go through. then in the final days here, as they are leading up to this, within about the last we can or

two the doctor was actually working with them on the breathing techniques that would you learn in a yoga class, because the fear is, and i think a lot of us can understand this, when you get into a tight little compartment, as it were, even if you have the experience to get in there and then come up, if you need to pause for a moment to collect yourself, he wanted them to know, take a deep breath in through the nose and then let it out through the mouth and to take their time, to collect themselves so that they can then think. >> looking at pictures now of the moonlight here. conditions are perfect. enough moonlight the helicopters can fly in and out once brought to the surface, helicopters the nearest hospital, copiapo

hospital. it all depends on what is required once they get there but it can be released if it is felt they are in pretty good shape. >> you know, they are going by helicopter because i think we really need to explain where we are in the desert here, the driest spot on earth. we are, by driving, about an hour and 15 minutes on not the greatest road into a town which is not the smallest town but it's what i would say an isolated town. and where we are out here, there is nothing until this happened. the mine was here. men would come back and forth to work. sometime these would stay here for days and their wives and children would come out on weekends and while they take a break and have a barbecue and then go back in. but there is very little in this desert. a few flowers maybe grow here. you don't see birds flying around. you don't see -- >> no trees. >> no he trees. we are in a wind-swept desert

here. >> best described as some said as a moonscape and it really does have that appearance of a moonscape. but an area very rich in copper, gold and ore, which is what the men, in fact, were mining for when they were trapped 69 days ago. again, taking a look at the live pictures to let you know, it seemed we are experiencing a little bit of a delay with what we were told would probably be an 8 p.m. rescue, 8 p.m. being local time here. we are an hour ahead of eastern time. but no reason that we know of just yet except earlier today at a news conference, they did say they were not going to begin the full rescue operation until they were absolutely, positively sure that every system had been tested and as you see, they are looking over the rescue capsules, checking it thoroughly. >> they are looking at the upper portion of what appears to be the rescue capsule, chris, so as we look at them working on the upper portion, that is not the

area where the men will enter. that is above their head. that is where the light is where the camera comes down through. >> thank you so much. we are what a great report. thank you, kerry sanders and natalie morales. this is going to be a night to remember for evan watching right here. we will be right back with you down there in a moment. our coverage of the chilean mine rescue continues in just a moment. you are watching "hardball," only on msnbc. i needed more customers,

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american companies help chilean offings in this rescue operation. jeff righten is a senior service technician with schramm and helped drill the rescue holes at the chilean mine. thank you very much, jeff, for joining us. give us a sense of the challenge that led to tonight. how did you get this far? >> caller: a lot of good team work from many different companies, main christianson, many american companies come down there with a great rig. the hole was extremely difficult, it was such a hard rock formation but seems we had the right combination and able to get her done. >> what kind of rock did you have to cut through to get down 2,000-plus-feet? >> caller: open, we are talking granite, talking a lot of soft and hard formation that is what made it so hard, in the drilling process, hard rock is good, when drilling such a large hole. all of a sudden with he would hit patches of soft that is what made it hard for us we trying to get to a certain destination and

trying to keep that bit straight. >> let ask you about the decisions that are made on the 26-inch capsule. how wide a hole did you dig to have to make that go down? >> caller: what we did is initial hole is 28 inches down to 530 meters then, reduced to a 26-inch hammer much the capsule itself is 21 inches. so -- >> that's what i thought. >> caller: yeah, the capsule is 21-inch capsule and 26-inch hole. so -- >> what were the concerns -- be what were your concerns about -- was there any danger of a cave-in as we were going down toward the tunnel? >> caller: our initial fear was the last say 100 meters, we didn't want to actually poke through the tunnel so what we did is we -- with a video camera and talking to miners, we actually stopped short and the miners cleared it the last of the wake the last six or seven inches, so there was no instance

of that. and most of the loose rock material is, you know, up toward the surface so, that's why they set the 100 meters of casing, just insurance policy to make sure nothing falls down in on the capsule. >> so, what's the difference between our technology ant chilean technology? are they state-of-the-art? are we state-of-the-art? who is ahead in mine rescue? >> caller: i think you, well, the thing is we have done it before, i think that is the difference. the same company, we just did the mine rescue in pennsylvania and there's 40 schramm drawings down in chile, just availability, you know, that schramm was the biggest equipment we could get there so everything just worked out for us. >> congratulations so far, jeff righten for coming to chile to help save these 33 miners trapped down there for 69 days, thanks for joining us. the mine rescue set to begin in less than 90 minutes. much more from chile what a store wlarks a night to

remember. you see it down there in the dark, we are going to remember this story, if things works out, especially positively, our coverage continues after this, we are watching -- we are all watching "hardball" right now on msnbc. how are those flat rate boxes working out? fabulous! they gave me this great idea. yea? we mail documents all over the country, so, what if there were priority mail flat rate... envelopes? yes! you could ship to any state...

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welcome back to "hardball". we have all the poll numbers. but first, become to the capsule, it is a test run, no one aboard now, less than 90 minutes, the actual rescue operation will begin, those 33 miners in chile, 2,000 people below surface will begin coming up one by one on what's called phoenix two, which is that interesting capsule built for this purpose. it looks like a small spaceship there it is, heading downward 2,000-plus-feet to pick up, one at a time, those miners go to tony oppegard, a mine safety expert and former official at the mine safety and health

administration. tony, thank you for joining us. about mine safety and the question, the thing that went wrong here, can you describe what led to the need for this saving of these 33 guys after 69 days? >> well, chris, as you know, mining is inherently dangerous, no matter where it's done in the world. basically, here a tunnel collapsed there was a roof fall and they were not able to get to the miners that way, so they had to come down from the surface. we know these miners are really tough men because from all accounts this is a mine with a bad safety record what we would call a dog hole in kentucky. for miners to work in a dog hole, they are risking their lives to support their families and they are -- many of them have been about injured earlier in their careers, i have read. you know they are tough men. >> tell me about a dog hole is that a meaning for a dangerous

man or a particular configurati configuration? >> it is a dangerous mine, where little regard is given to safety, the main goal is production and you are willing to risk your workers' lives or their health in order to get the coal, copper or gold, whatever it may be out. and from all accounts that's what we have here in chile. >> that because -- well, let's not get into national differences here, i guess i have to. is chile known not to have much of a regulatory regime? i believe that is the case. certainly don't have the scrutiny we have. there are complaints in america from the tea party folks about the federal government overreaching we need to keep government off of our back, make government smaller but it is indisputed that in the united states, the death rate has decreased dramatically because of the involvement of msha, the

mine safety health administration and the federal laws overseeing coal mining. we have a candidate now in kentucky running for the u.s. senate, rand paul, one of these tea party radicals, who has said to a coal group in harlan county that the operators ought to be responsible for safety and the federal government should stay out of mine safety issues. and if we had that in america, we would be going back 50 years or 100 years and we would have more accidents like we are seeing in chile right now. >> that is an odd statement to make i guess, compared to the way most of us look at it we like the fact that there is from redd regulation of airline safety if we fly regularly. open a condition of tuna there is somebody at fda or somebody is watching the people that produce it we don't generally rely on self-regulation when it affects our own safety and own health, do you notice? >> no, we don't. it is an ignorant statement and if mr. paul had relatives

working in coal mines in harlan county, i'm sure woe want federal inspectors because for coal miners in the united states, the best days they have, particularly nonunion mines is went inspectors are underground on a daily basis. when inspectors aren't there, a lot of operators run wide open. they disregard safety laws do whatever they have to do to get the coal out as fast as they can. and we don't want in america the types of situation that they are going through in chile right now, where you have 33 men whose lives are still at risk. >> let me ask you about the mine operation. do you have any -- do you have an understanding of the technology that's being used tonight to get them out? >> well, i'm not an engineer. certainly it's similar to what was use ted quecreek disaster back in july '02 in western pennsylvania. in that case, however, the miners were trapped only 240 feet below the ground and of course here in chile they are more than 2,000 feet, so,

there's quite a difference. and the other great difference is that, well, go back, the capsule that's being used, i think the first time a similar capsule was ever used was at the quecreek accident in 2002. i'm sure based on that experience, it has helped in planning for this rescue operation. >> let me ask you about american mine workers 'cause americans -- what we hear about ourselves as much as people overseas. and the question i have to ask you is about the safety. are the unions able to keep safety in our mines in america? are they organized? there is a difference -- the difference between a union mine and a nonunion mine in america is the difference between night and day. for instance in eastern kentucky, we have no union mines whatsoever, not a single one. and we have a lot more safety issues there miners required to work in unsafe conditions,

miners who are afraid to speak out for safety because they know if they do, they are going to get fired from their jobs. and in a lot of ways there has been great improvement in areas of the country but in eastern kentucky, we still seem to be behind the times here because we don't have any union mines and you don't have safety committeemen called to scene in case there is this dispute between a miner and a foreman over a safety condition. at a noon nonunion mine, all doug is keep on work. if you don't like it all doug is get your bucket and go to the house which means get your lunch pail, you are fired. there is a law to protect miners in the united states, they have a right to refuse unsafe conditions if they do and they are fired, they will be tied up in litigation for the next two, two and a half years. >> thank you it is great to have your perspective. a tough road to hoe.

people ought to know what it costs to get the coal out of the grounds. much more on the mine rescue effort in a moment and the latest political polls w wasn't to bring you up to date what we did on "hardball." give you the scoreboard, no matter what and we will give it to you tonight, no matter what. you are watching "hardball," only on msnbc. ♪ [ deb ] people don't just come to ge capital for money. they come to us for help. at ge capital, we've been financing taylor guitars for over eight years, helping them build a strong dealer network. bringing music to people... i like that. ♪ ♪

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back to "hardball." more of the news on chile in a moment. but right now, let's check the latest polls and the tight

political race around our country. in the hard ball scoreboard, we start with the generic congressional ballot, from the new bloomberg poll, good news for democrats here and a big surprise, the democrats now lead republicans it is hard to believe, given all the bad us in for democrats, 42 to 40. they are actually in the lead in this poll, a poll by bloomberg. and a respected poll n delaware, democrat chris coons a big lead over republican christine o'donnell. no surprise there but look, 19-point spread, 57-38. west virginia u.s. senate race, joe man chin, the democrat of the state leads john raese but only 3. ppp, a robocall, which some pollsters say isn't as accurate as other polls. another ppp poll in nevada, harry reid has a slim lead over sharron angle. he can't shake her. finally, in wisconsin with, a new reuters poll has republican ron johnson leading senator russ feingold by 7, i don't get it, what is going on in wisconsin? we will continue to checked

"hardball" scoreboard and all the big races each night leading up to november 2nd, election as get ready to rescue 33 miners. this is a big night, a big night to be near your tv set. you need website development, 1-on-1 marketing advice, search-engine marketing, and direct mail. yellowbook's got all of that. yellowbook360's got a whole spectrum of tools. tools that are going to spark some real connections. visit yellowbook360.com and go beyond yellow. sure ii just wish that all of the important information was gathered together in one place. [ printer whirs ] done. ♪ thanks. do you work here? not yet. from tax info to debunking myths, the field guide to evolving your workforce

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chile and get the very latest on the trapped miners. nbc kerry sanders and natalie morales are both at the mine.

kerry and natalie, what is the latest as we end our program tonight? >> reporter: well, we are looking right now, chris, at what appears to be, you know, perhaps one of the final tests, and we're told that they're going to -- as we just saw them -- raise up the capsule on that winch system, and they're now going to soon lower it, empty. the first one's going in empty. and they're going to do a run. they're not going to make it all the way down, because, again, they don't want anybody to get too excited. >> you don't want somebody to just jump in. the reason they don't want to do that is because they have a set pattern of what they want to do. they want it to go down first with a rescue miner who will go down and then it will come up with our first miner coming up to the surface after 69 days and that's 31-year-old florencio avalos, father of two, veteran miner, somebody who they think is cool, calm, and collected, somebody who has actual mining experience to solve a problem if

one skrifted. >> reporter: there's the famous mine hole. you see the fiberoptics and cabling that they're monitoring and using to watch the whole process. every single part of that rescue capsule, the phoenix one and phoenix two, there are two capsules that are going to alternate that are covered with video and audio capability. >> yes. i think that's what they're doing right now. they're sending the camera up and down. it's 2,040 feet. they've been sending the camera up and down because they've been inspecting the walls. the first 187 feet has pieces of half-inch steel pipe that are in lengths of about 20 feet long. they were all soldered together or connected together. the reason they did that is because part of the shaft had loose fractures or rocks that

could come loose while capsuling. it appears they may be sending a camera down once again to inspect the shaft. >> reporter: meanwhile the phoenix cap sewer is rile above it, and they're going to wait till they get a clear feed, you would imagine, before they're going to lower the phoenix capsule down. again, without anyone in it the first time, but then it's the real first beginning of the rescue operation which we're not told is going to take place around 10:00 p.m. here. that will then -- they're going to then lower the first man down will be a rescue miner, somebody who's on the rescue team. >> actually i'm getting word right now what they're lowering down there right now is a communication cable. so the communication cable is going down in there. i guess they're having a redundant system placed in, even though they have those other five-inch holes. they're adding one more communication line down there.

boy, they're doing it with some speed. they want to get it down there. everybody's so anxious for this moment. >> reporter: yeah, they're really going to make sure, chris, that every step of the way is analyzed, thoroughly tested before they actually begin the operation. by the way they're called it operation sun lorenzo which is interesting because that's the patron saint of miners. so, again, a sign of the faith as well that they've shown so much here. >> i'm curious, natalie, we've been covering the story for some time. i'm excite. >> reporter: you can't help but be excited and emotion as objective journalists. it's hard to do that. >> reporter: it really is. you get sucked up into this. i think the world is. >> i think we're allowed to side with the rescue workers. i don't think that's a question of subjected journalism. i think you're allowed to take a strong position for support

here. i think you can take turns doing this. give me a sense of the next 24 to 48 hours. these are going to come out, 24 minutes from the top. >> reporter: take a look at the picture here. these are the police that are doing their chants. i don't know how much you can hear of that but that is an example of what people are feeling here. everything is building up to this momentous occasion, the rescue capsule now being raised up. again, this is going to be a first test run as far as we know. chris? >> and you're going to be there through the night it looks like based upon the time it takes to get each one of the rescued workers to the surface. >> reporter: we're going to be here for the next 48 hours.

>> reporter: it's going to be a long operation. it could take anywhere from 33 hours to 48 hours, but, yes, as long as you want us here, chris, we'll stay. >> let me ask you this. we can't see the full establishment shot. how many people are around you in this amazing historic spot right now. >> reporter: i'm going to ask george if you woinld mind kind of panning over here to show us our 2,000 friends who are with here from 200 nations including north korea, we're told, has a crew here, a lone journalist from finland. every nation just about is with us. >> from morocco. >> reporter: this has been a larger-than-life story. >> this is great. natalie you're so smart to include the north koreans. that proves it's a global enterprise. we're all in this together. thank you very much